Advocate Baba Sayyad, representing Nida Khan, who is accused of being the mastermind behind the alleged forced religious conversion and sexual harassment at a Tata Consultancy Services’ business process outsourcing (BPO) unit in Nashik, Maharashtra, said she will be seeking anticipatory bail before the sessions court.
“It’ll be done in a couple of days,” Sayyed told Hindustan Times. He added that she is being falsely framed as the mastermind of the case, as there was no mention of forced religious conversions in any of the first information reports.
The case pertains to a complaint filed by one of the employees of TCS’s BPO unit, who accused her senior colleague, Danish Shaikh, of sexual harassment and initiating sexual relations under the pretext of marriage.
Although eight people were arrested in the case, including a female Human Resources employee, the police said the “HR head” Khan was on the run. Her family, however, has claimed she is pregnant and at her home.
They rejected the claims and said she joined the BPO in December 2021 as a telecaller and not an HR employee. She was not among the senior staff, they said.
“My daughter has not done any of these things. She simply went to work every day and got into trouble just for saying hello and goodbye to people,” Khan’s father told HT.
Her brother said that her photograph, taken from her personal Instagram account, was made viral on social media with statements of being the HR head of the Nashik TCS BPO unit.
Her father regrets encouraging her to work, saying he was very proud of her for joining a multinational company. “It would have been better if she had not worked at all. Such terrible things are being said about her, none of which are true. We have been so upset. Her mother has taken ill.”
Khan’s uncle also reiterated the claims that she is not absconding. “She is not running from anything,” he said. “And I do want to say that so far no police officer has shown up at our door asking for her whereabouts.”
2 accused remanded to police custody till April 18
On Thursday, April 16, a local court remanded two accused, Raza Rafiq Memon (35) and Shafi Bikhan Sheikh (36), to police custody till April 18.
Memon and Sheikh, both arrested afresh on Wednesday, April 15, after being remanded in judicial custody in a related case, were produced in the court on Thursday. The judge remanded them for two days’ police custody.
They are booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 74 (outraging woman’s modesty),75 (sexual harassment), and 79 (word, gesture, act, or object used with the intention to insult the modesty of a woman).
Seven employees, six men working at the Nashik unit of TCS, and a woman HR manager, have been arrested in nine cases registered so far.
The police formed a special investigation team (SIT) earlier this week to probe complaints lodged by eight women employees who claimed that senior colleagues mentally and sexually harassed them, and the human resources department ignored the complaints. Some of the complainants also alleged that the accused tried to forcibly convert them, and hurt their religious sentiments.
TCS on Sunday, April 12, said that it has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and coercion of any form for a long time, and the employees allegedly involved in sexual harassment at the Nashik office have been suspended.
A day later, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said that the complaints and allegations emerging from the Nashik office of TCS were “gravely concerning and anguishing”, and a thorough investigation was underway under Chief Operating Officer Arathi Subramanian to establish the facts and identify individuals responsible for the situation.
The National Commission for Women has also set up a fact-finding committee to probe the allegations.
City police, meanwhile, on Thursday said that some news channels and social media handles were broadcasting videos or posts that could reveal the identity of the women victims. Revealing the identity of any victim woman directly or indirectly is a crime, and it also causes immense anguish to victims and their families, police stated.
NHRC issues notice to authorities
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday, April 17, issued a notice to the Commissioner of Police, Labour Commissioner, Tata Consultancy Services officials, and the Director General of Police, Maharashtra, regarding allegations of religious conversion and sexual exploitation at TCS, Nashik.
The Commission has sought detailed reports and an Action Taken Report within a specified time. It also directed inquiries into compliance mechanisms and possible human rights violations mentioned in the complaint.
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